In the past few years, I've started figuring out principles which underlie efficient learning. I've started applying them to a few things as experiments. One of these was learning to do jazz/blues style improvisation on piano. I've been playing piano for about 4 decades now. It's mostly been by ear in a typical pop, rock, and country type of style. Mentally, it has involved me knowing what the chord progression for the song is and knowing what scales and notes work well with those chords, and playing those. I enjoyed it and got reasonably good at it. I've also played bass guitar and guitar (rhythm and lead) with a similar approach. I could improvise reasonably well within a tight mental discipline of knowing what scales and notes would work with what chords. I had tried learning jazz scales in the past but never could do much with them in songs.
Last summer, I decided to apply the new principles of learning I was slowly figuring out. One of these is working on the skill you want to learn rather than mostly learning about the skill. I wanted to be able to take a song and create jazz/blues versions of it on the fly. I researched jazz piano playing and found most tutorials recommended a common approach. This was basically memorizing a number of scales and practicing them in all 12 keys. In addition, it would involve memorizing what chords could be substituted for other chords. This correlates closely with the idea of memorizing grammar tables in language learning. Instead of taking this "grammar based" approach to piano improvisation, I decided to simply practice the skill I wanted to do which was improvising. I'd just sit down at the piano, randomly pick some chords and practice transitions between them. Later I wrote a computer program to generate random progressions which I'd then use as a basis for "songs" that I'd create on the fly. I'd say I average perhaps 20 minutes per day. Some weeks I don't touch the piano. Other weeks, I might play 30 to 45 minutes per day.
Now, to my main observation and question. When improvising like this, my mind is now clear and uncluttered. In the past, my mind would be racing with chords, scales, notes, and what would work with what. Most of what I played on piano, bass, and guitar came out of a strict adherence to particular chords and allowed notes and scales. It was mentally intense for me to play. Now, I just sit down, and chords, scales, and notes just flow. I started mostly in key of C (white keys) and now I find that I'm naturally using all the keys. I'm putting in accidentals, complex chords, and altering chords and scales on the fly without really thinking about it. At times, I have no clue what I'm playing except that I like how it sounds. It's very relaxing and I enjoy it. About the only thing in my mind is the general structure of the chord progression I'm using. I never thought I could do this playing music. I thought it was normal to constantly be thinking about chords, notes, and scales and which were the "correct" ones to use. Now, I give barely a thought to that and I just love the sounds that I am hearing. At one point I analyzed the notes I was playing and found that I was just naturally mixing together a number of different scales.
I'm now wondering how I can do this with language learning. How do I get to the point where I just use it without thinking about it? I used to be unable to play piano (or guitar) without visualizing chords, notes, scales, and relationships between them. I didn't think it was possible to improvise without doing this. Now I can just naturally play without thinking about the details of those things and I'm hearing how it sounds and feels. It's triggered my thinking about what methods of language learning would most closely parallel what I was doing on piano. I starting to think it is indeed possible for me to learn to use a new language in a similar manner if I can figure out what methods and approaches to use.
I'm just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences and what methods and approaches started to clear your mind of the clutter and distraction of grammar and rules. I'd be curious to hear what others' thoughts are on this. Maybe improvising music is too far removed from language use to be of use. However, I am intrigued about this mental transition that occurred rather quickly and easily for me just because I adopted a different approach to playing. I'm also wondering if people have already been saying this and I was just too dense to notice it or understand that is what they meant.
